Roof Consultants
Ideally, a roof consultant should be qualified to provide unbiased roof design, repair planning, quality observance, legal testimony, and general roof management services. Unfortunately, this is often not the case.
Anyone with a little specialized knowledge can call themselves a consultant. In diverse industries (such as the roofing industry) this lack of definition can be a problem because specialized knowledge in one segment of the roofing industry does not necessarily make a consultant well qualified to provide advice and services in another. In 1983 the Roof Consultant Institute was formed to provide a forum to develop professionalism in the growing Roof Consulting Industry.
Historically the broadness of the roofing industry accelerated exponentially after the 1953 Livonia - GM Transmission plant fire, the 1972 energy crises, and hurricane Andrew. A plethora of roofing standards, test procedures, and code requirements made what was a fairly simple trade into a very complex industry.
Also after 1972, a multitude of single ply roof systems coming available in the US resulted in more complexity from the manufacturer’s efforts to gain the largest market share possible by developing systems to install their products on as wide a range of existing roof decks and assembly components as possible. This lead to some roof systems being installed on deck assemblies that were not well suited for the attachment methods (such as large auger screws in cementitious-wood fibered decks or roof assemblies on dead level decks that were designed for coal tar pitch roof systems). Since then, the roof product manufacturer’s as a group have historically provided excellent training for their sales and technical representatives to install their products. In this process however comes a bias for installing their particular products on as many different types of deck assemblies as possible.
Some manufacturer’s representatives left the companies that trained them and many became roof consultants. Circa 1988 the Roof Consultant Institute (RCI) gave their first Certified Roof Consultant (CRC) exam to test the broad base knowledge of all roof consultants. This was later renamed Registered Roof Consultant (RRC).
Current Changes: Now we are going through another evolution in the roofing industry with the growth of reflective roof membranes, sustainable design, solar energy generation systems, day-lighting, and green roofs with plants. RCI, Inc. requires each Registered Roof Consultant (RRC) obtain 12 Continuing Education Hours every year to renew their registration. However, 12 CEH hours is not nearly enough, ConSpecT’s principles average over twice that much annually.
RCI professional members adhere to a strict ethics code that offers unprejudiced service without affiliation with any product or manufacturer. The organization's current membership numbers more than 2,500 and includes an international constituency residing in all 50 U.S. States, Canada, Mexico, Africa, Europe, Australia, the Middle East and the Philippines.
